financial district

Carving out a gallery within their Jackson Square investment firm, Julie and Sébastien Lépinard, under the threat of a ho-hum paint roller, christened the space instead with street art from British graffiti activist Banksy. Haight Street Rat, stenciled on the exterior redwood planks of a Haight-Ashbury inn, was painstakingly extricated and is now displayed in a window at the couple's new gallery, 836M.

When I heard about U-Sushi, a new quick-service sushi spot on Market Street that uses "state-of-the-art robot automation" to make sushi-rolls to-order, I'd be lying if I said visions of R2-D2 squirting wasabi out of a tube didn't come to mind. Sadly, when I arrived for lunch on Friday, no Star Wars cast members were there to streamline my sushi experience, but the speed sushi operation was defininitely drawing a crowd.

I caught up with Jaynelle St. Jean, owner of Oakland's PieTisserie, last week at the Super Duper opening party. Not everyone can rock tan, high-waisted leggings, but Jaynelle wore them with confidence and she wore them well. I also love how her scarf and heels add color and instant sophistication to this otherwise casual outfit.

A few hours ago our parking guru David LaBua, author of Finding the Sweet Spot, provided you with a little parking quiz about the secret to easy downtown parking. Here's the solution to a new era of stress-free commuting to work!

It's no secret that parking in the city is a bitch. So we've enlisted local parking guru and author of Finding the Sweet Spot, David La Bua, to dish out weekly tips on navigating the ins and outs of city parking.

For those of you who work downtown and commute by car, listen up: there are more parking spots out there than you know about. We'll post about where they are and how to spot them in a few hours, but for now, test your parking IQ with this quiz (we'll post the answer to the quiz in a bit as well).

What percentage of moving traffic in the SF business districts are drivers searching for curbside parking?

Seeing the (ahem) popularity of last week's mashup of two of the most stereotyped SF neighborhoods got us thinking of how we could possibly follow with another. But alas, once the Haight was mentioned it all became clear. This week's muse is a businessman by day who's a hippie at heart, reflected in his style by adding a dash of 'Summer of Love' flair into his work wear. So turn on some Dead and indulge yourself:

If you’re not a Fi-Di regular, chances are you haven’t noticed the popular online retailer OnTheFly.com recently opened up a bricks-and-mortar shop in the Embarcadero Center. Formerly based in a little-known warehouse in SoMa, the five-year-old company founded by haberdasher and Russian Hill resident Ami Arad, specializes in all things a stylish gentleman could need from croc-embossed cigar cases and shaving kits to silk ties and tailored trousers.